Cornell Business Review Spring 2020

Cornell Business Review Spring 2020

FINTECH IS DISRUPTING LENDING IN INDIA

Universal Healthcare: The Pandemic Mitigator Reducing Economic Gender Imbalance in the Informal Sector The Case for Breaking Up Google Ted Teng Interview

Letter from the Editor I am honored to present to you the 20th issue of the Cornell Business Review. I am especially proud of this issue given the circumstances in which we completed it. Since our inception in the Fall of 2010, the Cornell Business Review has constantly sought to improve our publication.

Despite mounting challenges, the Business team created a fundraiser to help provide protective gear to healthcare professionals around the world. The Design team has also done an exceptional job with this issue by overhauling the design of the magazine in print and digital formats.

The Editorial team ensured that this semester’s issue contained not only a diverse selection of articles but also works which are both nuanced and novel. One of our articles highlights the deficiency of the US healthcare system in the face of COVID-19. Other articles explore antitrust concerns as a result of Google’s market dominance in online advertising, the gender imbalance in the informal sector, and the FinTech revolution in India. In addition to our wonderful articles from the Editorial team, the Business team has fostered a sense of community by highlighting Cornell University students who are doing remarkable work in reducing the impact of COVID-19. Moreover, the Business team secured an interview with Ted Teng, the former president and chief executive officer of The Leading Hotels of the World.

I have been a part of the Cornell Business Review since my first freshman semester, in the Fall 2018. This organization has played an integral role in my college experience and continuing education, and I am honored to be this edition’s Editor-in-Chief. The job comes with great responsibility, and I was only able to see to this edition’s completion with the aid of every member. Every semester I see the growth of our members, but this year especially has showcased their resilience. I am so proud and grateful for each and every person’s efforts. I am especially thankful to our executive board. I would like to thank our Managing Editor, Alexandre Taylor, our Business Manager, Julia Kim, our Assistant Business Manager Isha Janjikhel, and our Design Director, Edward Guo for their diligence and dedication to the magazine and for being the glue which kept this organization together. I would also like to thank our advisor Harry de Gorter and Cornell University for the support and resources they have provided. While this semester’s issue did not go as planned, I am extremely proud of the work of our organization and how we have risen despite great odds. It has certainly been a learning experience in my first semester as Editor-in-Chief. I am nothing but grateful for this experience and look forward to being at the helm of the Cornell Business Review next semester. I hope you enjoy our work.

Best wishes, Meridien Mach

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Cornell Business Review Editor-in-Chief Meridien Mach Managing Editor Alexandre Taylor Business Manager Isha Janjikhel Julia Kim Design Director Edward Guo Associate Editor Ethan Wu Editor Kyle Castellanos Nadia Khan Raghav Madhukar Isabella Picillo Jacob Spiegel Jessica Zand Business Evan Byers Alethia Chan Mahima Kumbhat Jaclyn Liu Angela Shi Emily Shiang Design Melanie Chen Leah Kwauk Samantha Mulvey Jessica Sun Michelle Tang Helen Wang

Contents 4

Universal Healthcare: The Pandemic Mitigator

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16 Ted Teng Interview

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FinTech is Disrupting Lending in India

9 Reducing Economic Gender Imbalance in the Informal Sector

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Michelle Tang Interview FEATURE

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Student Efforts during COVID-19 Pandemic

The Case for Breaking Up Google

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Universal Healthcare: The Pandemic Mitigator

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conomies are dependent on the good health and well-being of the people that make them functional. Globally, COVID-19 has sickened more than one million individuals in a matter of weeks and has produced a death toll which has surpassed 250,000 and is likely to grow further.

been completely avoided. However, there Written By is no doubt that the impact of this virus Isabella Picillo could have been mitigated. Other countries around the world have taken measures, which under ordinary circumstances, would be deemed as “‘extreme,’” to contain the virus and “flatten the curve.” Some notable responses include nationwide lockdowns In the United States, COVID-19 is wreak- and moving all nonessential work remotely. ing havoc on the American economy. Ap- In the U.S., the reaction to COVID-19 has proximately 33 million individuals have varied by state. filed for unemployment since the outbreak.

In March alone, approximately 701,000 job On the federal level, the Trump administralosses occurred, making March the worst tion initially took a cavalier attitude towards month for job losses since the Great Re- the virus. In January through early March, cession. Business and academic economists President Trump dismissed the threat of surveyed by the Wall Street Journal predict the virus, stating at a New Hampshire rally that gross domestic product will contract at on February 10th that “when it gets a litan annual rate of 25% in the second quarter, tle warmer, [the virus] miraculously will go and the unemployment rate will reach 13% away.” Even during those early months, it in June. However, we still should anticipate was clear that President Trump’s statements corporate profits to decline sharply and were false. The virus was spreading rapidly businesses to struggle with lower demand. even in Singapore, where average temperatures are similar to the U.S.’s summers.

It is unlikely that COVID-19 could have

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One major problem with the U.S. healthcare system is that many people do not have insurance or lack adequate coverage. The U.S. Census Bureau indicates that 27.5 million Americans did not have health insurance during 2018. Many of the people that fall into this category are low-income. These uninsured individuals, or the ones who lack adequate coverage, might avoid seeking medical care because of the associated cost, often due to high deductibles, high premiums, and hidden fees and unexpected costs.

To contain COVID-19, Americans should seek their healthcare providers as soon as they develop symptoms. However, many of these uninsured individuals will not seek medical attention due to fear that they will end up with a hefty bill.

When individuals do not get tested and treated, they risk spreading the virus, especially if they are not aware of their infection and do not properly self-quarantine.

Another major issue exposed by the COVID-19 outbreak is how remoteness affects access to healthcare. About 20% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, yet only 9% of practicing physicians work in remote regions, which, in part, explains why rural communities experience delayed healthcare seeking, higher healthcare costs, and increased travel burdens. Individuals

living in remote or rural areas may healthcare system are a reflection not be able to access the necessary of the U.S.’s fragmented and incare to test and treat COVID-19. efficient healthcare system, which results in high costs and varied The current pandemic also demonservice quality of healthcare. These strates the inability of the U.S. problems make it difficult for the health system to adapt and respond presidential administration to coto health crises. When COVID-19 ordinate mass efforts across the encases started rising, the U.S. was tire country and ensure individuals, significantly behind other counregardless of their geographic and tries, such as Germany and South socioeconomic status, can access Korea, in its testing capabilities. In and receive quality health care serearly March, the U.S. was only pervice. forming five COVID-19 tests per million people, whereas South Ko- The solution to these issues is a rea was conducting 3,692 tests per universal healthcare system, which million people. would enable Americans to access healthcare regardless of their demographics and the federal govAbout 20% of the ernment to execute a more efficient U.S. population approach to health crises. Changes in policy and the fundamenlives in rural tal ways in which the American areas, yet only 9% political system views health care must occur before the government of practicing can support this type of healthcare physicians work system. A universal health care in remote regions. system also has limitations. The US government will still have to prioritize improving rural hospiPart of the reason why the U.S.’s tals which are now on the brink of testing capabilities are so far behind closure. Offering grants, providing is because of flawed test kits, man- support for training physicians who ufacturing problems, government plan to practice in rural areas, and red tape, and the Trump adminis- giving technical assistance to help tration's conflicting, or even false, hospitals with implementation and statements about the need for tests. certification of new services, would The extent to which this problem boost productivity in struggling manifests varies by state. In Febru- hospitals. ary, the C.D.C. began sending out A universal health care system does coronavirus test kits to state and not mean the end of public and local public health labs. However, private sector collaboration. Private these kits were rendered ineffecbusinesses are essential in productive due to contamination at the ing medical supplies and developC.D.C. laboratories. Consequently, ing tests and treatment for the vithe US government suspended the rus, but they are not responsible for launch of its nationwide detection ensuring individuals are tested and program for a month. Not only was treated. The COVID-19 outbreak the US government unprepared serves as a reminder that universal but it was also unable to establish a healthcare is a more efficient and systematic testing policy. egalitarian system for mitigating Overall, the inability of the U.S. to the effects of pandemics. provide healthcare to its citizens and the inadaptability of the U.S. Cornell Business Review

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Moreover, as cases began to rise in the US, the lag time in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak ultimately caused the United States to miss the window for contact tracing, an essential public health tool used to interrupt transmission and reduce the spread of infection.

However, regardless of the President’s reaction to COVID-19, the US healthcare system is not well equipped to deal with an outbreak.

Indeed, this epidemic has exposed many of the American healthcare system’s weaknesses.

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FinTech is Disrupting Lending in India

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We have the Internet of everything, but not the inclusion of everyone,” said Ajay Banga (CEO, MasterCard). But what does it really mean to include everyone?

For starters, it means providing everyone the opportunity to improve their economic circumstances – a key facet of that being access to formal finance.

In developing nations around the world, millions of individuals are unable to tap into credit from formal financial institutions due to a lack of credit history, adequate documentation, or sufficient collateral. The lack of access to credit is exacerbated by the fact that most micro and small enterprises are informal, unregistered, transact predominantly via cash, don’t pay taxes, and possess little or no assets. As a result, they are simply unable to access finance from banks, and instead resort to usurious money lenders who often charge exorbitant interest rates.

and over 300 million lives are dependent Written By on their success. Unlocking the econom- Raghav Madhukar ic potential of this vastly underpenetrated segment can have an enormous positive impact. Unfortunately, the numerous attempts by the Indian government to facilitate easy access to credit through banks have not yet had their desired effect as conventional ‘asset-as-collateral’ models are simply inapplicable to most small businesses. However, with the ubiquity of mobile phones and data trails, fin-tech companies are beginning to experiment with a variety of disruptive models for assessing credit worthiness and deploying loans. In addition, smart policy changes are beginning to stimulate and support innovative lending models. Two such initiatives by the Indian government stand out: Aadhaar and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Improving Technology Infrastructure

One of the major hurdles in the race to To put things in perspective, India is a achieve financial inclusion is the absence of country with 63 million small businesses,

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ECONOMY

identification, necessary to meet know-your-customer (KYC) requirements). Identification is any document that can prove you are who you claim to be, whether that be a driver’s license, birth certificate, or other similar documents.

While this widespread lack of identification may be hard to initially understand, it is the harsh reality of life in the developing world – millions of people (mostly the poor, illiterate and rural populations) don’t have any acceptable means of verifying their identity.

In 2009, the Indian government rolled out what is today the largest ID program anywhere in the world: Aadhaar. With Aadhaar, the Indian government provided every citizen with a unique 12-digit number (like the Social Security Number but without any associated functions such as taxes/ benefits) that could be offi-

cially used to identify them. Today, over 1.2 billion people have Aadhaar numbers, covering more than 90% of India’s population. This ID program laid the foundation for India’s financial inclusion, enabling more than 300 million people to open bank accounts for the first time in a span of three years.

In 2016, National Payments Corporation of India developed the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

The National Payments Corporation of India describes UPI as follows: “Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.”

companies (such as Google and WhatsApp) to facilitate payments at a very low cost, capping transaction fees at 60 basis points, compared to the ~ 3 % that credit card companies charge. UPI now facilitates over 1.2 billion transactions a month, well exceeding the number of credit card and debit card payments in India.

The low costs of payments, and the ability of merchants and vendors to use their payment history to demonstrate credit worthiness, has further propelled the fin-tech revolution in India.

FinTech Lending Models

Scores of lending startups have opened their doors during the past few years, largely owing to the presence of a strong underlying Today, UPI has enabled a num- inclusion infrastructure outlined ber of banks and technology above.

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Capital Float, a FinTech company based enhancing their platform, and expanding out of Bangalore, has grown into one of their footprint.

India’s leading digital financing companies.

They lend working capital to small and meThe State of FinTech dium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through An objective indicator of the performance their proprietary digital-only platform. and scale of any sector is the investment it Another interesting business model is attracts. In 2019, startups in India cumuthat of NeoGrowth. This Mumbai-based latively raised $ 14.9 billion, of which Fincompany collects a percentage of the daily Tech received the highest funding of any credit card sales of their beneficiary ven- sector, with $ 3.7 billion (~ 25 %) directed dors in order to recover the loan. This ap- towards startups in the space. The lendproach allows for adjustable repayment ing vertical, however, received only 10.8 % depending on daily sales, thereby hedging of that pie – amounting roughly to $ 400 the likelihood of non-performing assets million. Clearly, there’s a lot more room for (NPAs) and defaults in the instance of col- progress and expansion! lateral-free financing.

When projecting the growth of the naThe core attributable elements to the suc- scent Fintech sector in India, it is perhaps cess of Fintech lending are fivefold: useful to look back at the evolution of the sector in a mature country like the US. In Leveraging technology to determine 2018, personal loans outstanding in the US credit-worthiness using non-tradi- reached $138 Billion. In 2013, Banks held tional parameters a 40% share of this market, credit unions Requiring minimal documentation 31%, and FinTechs just 5%. However, by 2018 the tables had turned - FinTechs had to apply for financing risen to a whopping 38%, and banks and No collateral requirements for avail- credit unions held 28% and 21% respecing loans tively!

End-to-end simplified online loan This rapid institutional rebalancing of the application procedure lending industry in the US over the span Quick processing of requests (in the of just five years exemplifies the hope and potential of the burgeoning industry over span of hours) the coming decade in countries like India.

Marketplace financing, also commonly re- As the forces of FinTech and government ferred to as peer-to-peer (P2P) lending is policy converge to address the penetraanother emerging field. These marketplace tion-gap of financial services, it will be inplatforms play the role of an intermediary teresting to follow how the inclusion story by connecting borrowers with prospective plays out in the years to come. investors who selectively finance loans.

P2P platforms typically display individual loan data as opposed to bundled securitized products. That way, investors are aware of the specifications of the loans they finance. These platforms also offer a system of fractional loans by which loans are divided into smaller notes which retain the credit risk of the underlying asset. This allows retail investors with small portfolios to diversify their risk. However, in the P2P approach, the platforms do not bear any balance sheet exposure to the loans deployed, on either the asset or liability fronts.

This allows these companies to direct their efforts towards acquiring new customers, Cornell Business Review

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Reducing Economic Gender Imbalance in the Informal Sector Written By Nadia Khan

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he Informal Sector makes up a third of GDP and 70% of employment in emerging markets worldwide. Yet, more than likely, you’ve never even heard of it. While global regulatory bodies like the UN and International Labour Organization (ILO) have been trying to make amends for years, details of the injustices faced by laborers in the informal sector, particularly women, are hardly front-page news.

The ILO officially defines the informal sector as having two parts. Firstly, as the individuals who are without a formal work contract and are not protected by a federal safety net. Second, as businesses that are not registered with the government and thus do not pay taxes. More than 60% of the world’s employed earn their living in the informal economy. In parts of Asia and Africa, it constitutes as much as 80% of employment.

Part of the reason for the informal sector’s obscurity is its constituents: women from developing nations, without access to large amounts of capital or in many cases quality education, are overrepresented in the informal workforce by all estimates. Starting in the 1980s, a large portion of goods and services production for advanced market economies was subcontracted to smaller-scale informal units.

Since then, most of the informal economy’s output in the form of individual transactions and subcontracted relationships have been channeled into inputs for the smaller and yet far more prominent formal industries like footwear and electronics. Furthermore, with its ample government support and legal power, the formal sector is able to negotiate one-sided contracts with its informal partners. As a result, the informal economy has become a permanent, yet subordinate, part of the global economy.

On a macro level, high levels of informality are correlated with lower worker productivity and poorer development outcomes due to the precarious nature of informal work environments and the poor compensation they provide. On a more personal level, high levels of informality can also have profound impacts on the future prospects and quality of life of those employed.

The informal sector is the sole source of income for low-skilled laborers whose wages would otherwise fall below subsistence. Following the 2008 global downturn, informal workers and their families were particularly hard hit. Despite being forced to overwork, take on additional risks, and cut back on food and health care expenses, incomes still declined, pushing millions further into poverty.

However, policy that aims to make a difference in the short term should attempt to focus on the present and encourage investment in female education and empowerment.

Gender disparities are apparent, and often exemplified, in the informal economy. Despite being overrepresented, women earn lower wages on average than men, with a wage gap even more significant than in the formal sector. This is due to a multitude of factors. Firstly, more than 30% of women in informal employment, specifically in low and middle-income countries, are unpaid.

In addition, women are more exposed to informal employment, and thus higher job instability Cornell Business Review

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ECONOMY and poorer compensation, in more than 90% of sub-Saharan African countries, 89% South Asian countries, and almost 75% of Latin American countries.

Generally, women tend to be employees rather than employers, lack access to capital and credit lines, and do not possess higher levels of education. They also face significant structural and social barriers, including limited access to childcare services and limited mobility outside the home. Interestingly, despite being the most invisible of the informal workforce, female homemakers are one of the biggest contributors to global trade. For instance, women constitute 75% of all street vendors, which represent a very high proportion of employment and anywhere from 50 to 90% of trade GDP in many developing countries. Despite this, according to many international regulatory authorities including the OECD and ILO, women do not receive a proportionate level of economic return. Instead, they

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routinely work for lower wages than their male counterparts and are often put in unsafe conditions and at risk of sexual exploitation.

to counter deeply rooted biases and structural constraints from the bottom-up. While combating social inequality is undoubtedly critical for progress in the long Ingrained social biases also play a haul, more targeted policies are an large role in perpetuating the is- important first step. sue. Increasing levels of economic development do not automatically Employees of the informal sectranslate to greater gender equal- tor aren’t just in need of help. As ity. Most of the literature on im- what essentially constitutes the proving conditions in the infor- backbone of many developing mal economy for women offers economies, they need to be fairlittle advice on what policies could ly compensated. And even before prove effective. Instead, the focus that, they need to be guaranteed is on historical factors like unequal a safe working environment and access to capital and societal and potential for upward mobility. cultural norms, with women’s roles Therefore, policy attempting to in reproduction and child-rearing alleviate informal inequality must commonly cited as key drivers of focus on how best to deliver infrainequality. structure, services, and social benefits to workers. Other factors, inHowever, policy that aims to make cluding sector-based differences, a a difference in the short term global increase in outsourcing and should attempt to focus on the subcontracting, and the privatizapresent and encourage investment tion of public enterprises in many in female education and empow- countries must also be considered. erment instead of dwelling on the past. In the long-run, real reform Overall, however, the formalizawill also involve starting a dialogue tion of the informal sector could

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help improve quality of life, working conditions, and economic well-being for the nearly 2 billion laborers worldwide. It could mean comparable wages, enforceable labor contracts, health benefits, and pensions. On a grander scheme, it could boost developing economies, decrease income inequality, and help domestic industries navigate the rapid shifts in market demand and consumer expectations brought about by globalization.

General regulatory solutions aiming to further develop infrastructure while integrating key incentives to workers and their employers alike could help achieve this. From an organizational standpoint, developing country governments could work to simplify official registration and tie in benefits. Lower registration costs could encourage the entry of younger, more productive firms into the market. Easier access to lines of credit would allow closer monitoring of informal organizations and encourage development.

Governments should also implement women-specific solutions within the informal economic space. Different demand drivers require different solutions for the best outcomes. First, the passage of regulations that improve women’s access to land and capital could improve their financial standing and credit worthiness.

Secondly, government-funded training programs to increase female financial literacy could facilitate upward mobility and passage into the formal sector workforce.

Lastly, incentivizing companies to further involve women in key decision-making and leadership roles could help narrow the wage gap.

On the other hand, formalization could potentially translate into stunted economic growth. The formal sector, which has become increasingly reliant on the practice of subcontracting to smaller informal units, would likely take a hit as a result of rising labor costs and more equitable contract nego-

tiation. Furthermore, with the informal sector playing such a major role in developing economies, initiating any major regulatory disruptions could prove risky. However, in reality, research shows little correlation between informal and formal output and employment.

The informal sector has also historically served as a sink for the formal economy during recessions, absorbing labor and thereby diminishing capacity and lengthening recovery time. It is worth noting however that for the workers, more regulation will undoubtedly mean a greater financial burden in terms of taxes. Thus, effective regulation will have to offset the implicit cost of taxes with benefits such as pensions, healthcare, and rights to unionize. It must also harmonize with grassroots efforts to foster female empowerment.

Formalization, if done correctly, can lead to real strides in terms of standards of living and gender equality globally.

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The Case for Breaking Up Google Written By Jessica Zand

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rom purchasing to selling ads, Google is involved in every step of the online ad process.

In most cases, Google is the only option for advertisers and publishers that want to attract a large consumer base. Antitrust enforcers and advertisers are starting to ask, has Google become too powerful?

Discussions regarding the effect of market dominance on competition began over a century ago.

The 1911 antitrust lawsuit against Standard Oil resulted in the dissolution of America’s largest company on the grounds of anti-competitiveness.

At the time, John D. Rockefeller had built one of the world’s largest companies by buying out smaller oil refineries and partnering with railroad companies to receive lower shipping rates.

The breakup of large, anti-competitive companies was perceived as the purpose of antitrust until the 1960s, where, due to the emergence of Robert Bork’s Antitrust Paradox, courts shifted from favoring small companies with little market share to favoring what Bork called “consumer welfare”. Per Bork, legal rulings had been decreasing competition in American markets by artificially supporting small business, raising prices, and decreasing the welfare of consumers. Over time, Bork’s idea that anticompetitive rulings should seek to maximize consumer welfare became the new standard.

Generally, when employing the consumer welfare standard, the court considers whether the challenged practices result in lower output, higher prices, and decreased product quality and innovation for consumers. Regarding Google and the advertising market, the consumers are advertisers which use Google’s tools and rely on Google for ad space. To assess whether Google is decreasing its advertiser’s welfare, it is important to understand Google’s advertising platform and to break down Google’s role in each standard: output, prices, product quality, and innovation.

Google’s power as a mass broker of digital ad sales

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stems from its 2008 purchase of DoubleClick, a company that developed and provided online ad serving services. Essentially, DoubleClick allows advertisers to provide targeted ads to their viewers. Targeting is possible through Google’s Adsense service. Adsense collects and pools user information from many publishers into “segments”. Advertisers then select which segments they would like Google’s DoubleClick to provide ads to. Advertisers often utilize multiple ad spaces, from Google Search, Google Display (Gmail, YouTube, Google Finance), to individual websites in order to ensure that ads are placed in prime viewing spots.

Ad space, whether a banner on a website or on Google Search, is put up for sale either through Google’s Ad Network or Ad Exchange. An Ad Network enables advertisers to directly purchase ad space from Google (that is from all partnered publishers) while an Ad Exchange enables advertisers to bid on ad space from specific publishers and/or groups of publishers.

The exchange processes auctions every minute between advertisers who want to purchase ad space and publishers who are selling ad space; the highest bidding advertiser with the highest quality ads (quality score determined by Google) sees its ad placed. Ad space is first offered to advertisers who historically bid the highest prices. However, if the exchange’s highest bid was lower than the publisher’s minimum price, then the second-best advertisers (that is, those who offer the second-highest prices) are offered a chance to bid for ad space, known as waterfalling.

Manager, Google’s demand-side buying platform (DSP). Demand-side buying platforms are software that allow advertisers to manage ad space from multiple ad exchanges. This decision prevents advertisers who want to access Google’s market share of advertising space from using competing DSPs.

In most cases, Google is the only option for advertisers and publishers that want to attract a large consumer base.

Competing DSPs have distinct advantages, specifically when it comes to targeting capabilities.

For example, AppNexus, a competing DSP, offers IP Targeting to its consumers, which allows advertisers to define their intended audience before the exchange, and deliver online display ads to all devices connected to a Wi-Fi network (ie; seeing the same ads on a mobile device and computer).

This serves to enhance ad viewership, resulting in a high return on investment for advertisers that use this service.

Google’s DSP targets their audiences using demographics, which is more expensive, time-consuming, and often omits customers that fall outside of average demographics when compared to IP Targeting. Since it is very costly to use multiple DSPs, advertisers who used AppNexus’s DSP or competing DSPs must decide if access to GooThe waterfall process for selling ad space allows gle’s Ad Exchange is worth dropping their fapublishers to capitalize on revenue opportunities vored DSP. as advertisers are initiated down the line, one after another. Google’s Ad Exchange participates in its Considering Google’s massive market reach, it own ad server as well, allowing their Ad Exchange is reasonable to assume that advertisers will be to bid before a waterfall has taken place. Other bound to using DoubleClick Bid Manager. Thus, ad exchanges, not including Google, compete for by preventing advertisers from using different ad space in header bidding, which is where differ- technology partners’ services in conjunction with ent ad exchanges compete for publisher ad space. Google’s services, there are fewer tools available The winner of the header auction goes up against for the advertisers.

Google’s Ad Exchange. Essentially, no matter who bids the highest, whether an advertiser or an Pricing ad exchange, Google can choose to outbid them Google is one of the largest purchasers of their outside of normal auctioning times. own search ads and often bids against its consumers for ad space in its own exchange. A Wall Street Output Journal analysis found that Google’s ads appeared In 2014, Google stated that access to its Ad Ex- in the top spots for 91% of searches for an adverchange must be purchased with DoubleClick Bid tised product. Due to the fact that Google can bid

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However, even if Google’s market dominance resulted in increased pricing and decreased output, Google’s effect on its consumers must be compared to its alternatives. In legal terms, this Less Restrictive Alternative (LRA) must result in an option that is not only less restrictive but equally or more effective. Only alternatives that afford equal or more profits to the defendant provide a legitimate alternative. Although Google does not violate all aspects of consumer welfare, there are several alternatives that raise consumer welfare However, in an effort to not raise prices for its and increase competition in the advertising inconsumers, Google excludes its own bids when dustry. configuring the prices of other non-Google ads.

Google claims that its Ad Exchange is set up One option to raise consumer welfare, champiso that advertisers that compete in the auction oned by Elizabeth Warren, is to unmerge Gooagainst Google’s house ads pay as if the house ads gle and DoubleClick. If Google were to no lonwere not participating. However, Google’s house ger own DoubleClick, all advertisers would have ads ultimately cause advertisers to pay more by equal opportunity to acquire ad space. Google’s limiting the number of ad spots, forcing adver- Ad Exchange would also not be able to place bids tisers to compete for fewer, more expensive slots. before waterfalling occurs, meaning that Google would participate in header bidding, eliminating the advantage Google has in placing its own ads.

Qualities and Innovation One might suggest that if an advertiser is unhappy with Google’s ability to outbid advertisers that use its Ad Exchange and surpass the chain of demand for ad space (bidding before waterfalling), then the advertiser should use a different ad exchange.

However, the reality is that Google reaches over 90% of internet users worldwide. Newscorp, a long time critic of Google’s advertising practices, considered switching its ad-serving business over to Google’s competitor, AppNexus. However, the company felt it would risk losing 40-60% of the advertising demand it received from Google’s ad marketplaces, and ultimately decided to stick with Google. For example, YouTube, Google’s streaming service, is the most popular platform for digital advertising, reaching over 2 billion logged-in users every month. No other digital ad-server can even compare to YouTube’s user reach; Vimeo, YouTube’s top competitor, reaches 170 million users. Although advertisers must use Google’s ad exchange and DSP to buy ad space on YouTube, YouTube offers non-skippable video ads, display ads, and overlay ads, ensuring that advertisers will maximize ad viewership. In addition, YouTube offers audience guarantees to advertisers, promising to air ads across its channels until a certain percentage of the advertisers’ target audience is reached. This service is unique to YouTube and allows advertisers to plan ad budgets and obtain access to quality programming.

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on ad space before the waterfall process (before other advertisers with lower willingness to pay get the opportunity to bid for space), Google can outbid other advertisers. It is important to note that most advertisers prefer to use multiple exchanges in order to find the lowest price for ad space. By requiring that advertisers use Google’s Ad Exchange, and by outbidding its advertisers and not participating in header bidding, Google raises the price of ads for its consumers.

Another option to raise consumer welfare would be to separate Google’s Ad Exchange and Google’s DSP (DoubleClick Bid Manager), allowing advertisers to use third-party DSPs like AppNexus. The ability to use third-party DSPs and still bid for Google’s ad space would increase advertisers’ welfare by allowing them to use a combination of the best buying tools and ad exchange for their company. Also, advertisers would experience an increase in output (have more buying tools available to them) of DSP services to buy inventory and process data, making the DSP market more competitive.

Google’s status as the dominant search and advertising technology company is not, in and of itself, a violation of antitrust law. However, Google’s packaging of services, from ad auctions to the ad space, decreases competition and raises prices.

In the United States, courts have largely viewed Google’s practices as competitive, in sharp contrast with European regulators which fined Google in 2013 and 2019 for violating antitrust policies relating to search practices tied to advertising.

The U.S. Justice Department’s inaction brings into question the relevance of American antitrust policies. Are antitrust policies created to rein in the monopolies of the industrial age effective today? Or, more specifically, are antitrust policies adequately applied to tech giants? In the case of Google, the answer to both questions is “no”.

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INTERVIEW

Exclusive Interview with...

TED TENG Ted Teng ’79 graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.

Post-graduation, Mr. Teng worked for various hotel companies including Starwood, Sheraton, Westin, Wrather, and Wyndham International. He went on to lead as CEO of Prime Opus Partners and later led The Leading Hotels of the World as President and CEO for almost 11 years. Throughout his 40-year career, Mr. Teng has helped grow some of the most prominent brands in the industry. He now serves as First Vice President of Cornell Hotel Society and takes part in various organizations in the Hotel School. Mr. Teng now enjoys owning 100% of his time and, along with volunteering his time to Cornell University, enjoys life by going on runs and spending time in his Texas, Cayuga Lake and Kahala Beach homes.

How has your background and identity contributed to your initial interest in working in the hospitality field and how has the Hotel School played a factor in that?

I came to Cornell as an engineering student. I was going to be a civil engineer.

So, I’m a failed engineer. And I think the choice of the hotel industry was somewhat accidental. I didn’t want to leave Cornell after two years of engineering--I wanted to stay at Cornell. And I found that the hotel school has a good business education and I like food and people. So I thought, ‘give that a try’ and here I am 45 years later. So it was somewhat by chance that I became a Hotelie.

Well the education was different. I felt that for the generation before me, the school was preparing them to be department heads. In my generation, I think they were preparing us to be hotel managers. And today, I think the Hotel School’s education is preparing people to run a business.

I would say there were probably a handful of Asian Americans at the Hotel School, so the student body was very different back then. Now, there are certainly a lot more Asian and Asian American faces and it’s a bit more international. Inclusion is not just what it looks like, but how people treat each other and I think we made a lot of progress, but we still have a ways to go at Cornell.

How was the Hotel School back when you How did you come up with your motto “Prewere at Cornell compared to what it is now?

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serve, Enhance, and Invent” and how did conservative company. While my mandate you take this to heart as CEO of Leading was to disrupt and change, I was still going Hotels? to preserve the things that were of value to the company going into the future. There’s When I went into Leading Hotels, I devel- a school of thought called Appreciative Inoped five guiding principles to guide me in quiry and it’s a wonderful tool as you exleading Leading Hotels and “Preserve, En- amine companies and one of the teachings hance, Invent” was one of the five guiding is “don’t trash the past.” So, I went through principles, but I guess it’s a catchy phrase a process of really acknowledging what’s that gets picked up more than the other been great about the past and the successfour. “Preserve, Enhance, Invent” for me es so that we could start looking at where was about connecting yesterday, today, and we are today. What needs to change? And tomorrow. It’s about the past, present, and what needs to be invented? What do we future. If I was running a startup, there’s need to preserve that’s important to us into nothing to preserve; it’s all about inventing. the future? What are we doing today that And for an 80 year old company, I want- needs enhancing? And what are we not ed to make sure that people didn’t see me doing today that we need to start doing? It coming in just focused on the changes I’m was a way to connect people to the future, going to make because that makes peo- but also hold onto the past. There are some ple very insecure and defensive and tends things in the past we don’t need to preto block the progress you want to make. serve; we’d be better to just preserve them Clearly, the company was not as successful as history and be proud of it, but not necesas it could be, so things had to change, but sarily practice into the future. But there are yet, not everything had to change. And I a lot of things that we’re doing today and think this was my way of reassuring a very we just need to do them better. And then there are things that we’re not doing that we need to start doing.

As someone with a vast range of experiences in the hospitality industry, what would you say have been your favorite projects or aspects about working in this area?

I’ve worked with many different companies, many projects, many situations, many expansions, a lot of turnarounds. I would say it’s the people that I work with. Some people I work with like me, some people don’t like me. It’s fine. But if you ask people about me, the answer is very commonly that “I learned a lot from Ted.” It doesn’t mean they like me. And it’s different than Ted taught me a lot. It’s different in the sense that they learn. They took the initiative to learn. I am proud to have created an environment that they learned from their work. Learning is very personal. It’s very individualized. Different people learn in different

Ted Teng is pictured receiving the Cornell Hospitality Innovator Award in 2016.

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INTERVIEW Ted Teng is pictured in a photo from his daughter’s wedding in 2018 at the Pierre Hotel.

His daughter and her husband are both Cornellians. ways. And I’m proud to say that probably the most common answer is, “I learned a lot from Ted.” During my time at Cornell, I had the fortune of being a teaching assistant in four different classes.

And I think that’s what got me started in training and developing people. I knew that different students learn differently and if you can somehow help them turn on the light and they learn it themselves, it’s really powerful. And I think I took that with me. I enjoy sharing knowledge and seeing people grow. There is a saying: “If you want to really learn something, teach it.” Sitting in class learning is very different than having to get up and teach it. You have to gain greater insight. But as you prepare to teach it, it’s amazing how much more you’re learning, so sharing

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knowledge and helping people learn has always been a passion of mine.

What are some of the greatest challenges you faced during your career in hospitality?

The imbalance between labor and capital, and this is particularly highlighted in our current crisis.

Throughout my career, I started to really learn what business is about.

Most people will say, “Oh, business is about maximizing shareholder value.” Well, that’s one angle to look at it. I’m not a socialist.

I don’t particularly prescribe to the triple bottom line type of theory.

Some people will say, “Well, we have employment for people so that we can drive ROI.” I look at it the other way around: I have to be able to drive ROI in order to create

and sustain employment. Creating employment is a big joy because I know most people in the U.S. or maybe even around the world are able to live a life that they want because of their job. And if I can create meaningful, well-compensated, sustainable employment, then I have done a lot of social good.

Now, I’m not naive to think that I don’t have to deliver a return to the holders of capital in order to keep the business running, so I know I have to deliver ROI. But creating and sustaining employment is the vehicle to what I really want to accomplish. The trouble is that whenever there’s a crisis, the holders of capital will rush to preserve capital. I understand that. But it’s often done at the expense of labor.

Look at the current crisis: very quickly, owners are saying, “Well,

Don’t believe in the, “Oh, we’re in this together,” and, “There’ll be a bright future; stay with us” because that’s an empty promise.

capital. Now my belief is labor needs to wise up. You cannot rely on capital in times of crisis. And it’s fine for holders of capital to do what they do, but the labor needs to be smart and have their own safety net and demand compensation that’s fair to them when the employer needs them. Don’t believe in the, “Oh, we’re in this together,” and, “There’ll be a bright future; stay with us” because that’s an empty promise. What do you tell the families who got bills to pay, rent to pay, and food to put on the table?

The trouble I have is now the continuation of deepening the imbalance, but I think it’s going to swing the other way--labor is going to wise up. So that’s a challenge I see in the industry. And I struggle with it. I can try to do what’s within my authority and sometimes that’s an idea that has to be sold to a lot of people because they don’t share that. And I have to look at what’s in their best interest as well and enroll them into it.

What do you think are some of the most important skills required to succeed as a business professional in the hospitality industry?

I think there are several skills that I find are not taught in classes. One of them is pattern recognition. There is no Pattern Recognition 101. Pattern recognition is a skill where you can visualize what’s going on and get to the essence of things. If you see a pattern over time, or over different markets, you can start to address those.

Another important skill is about managing conversations. If you asked me what I do every day as a CEO, I would tell you that I do nothing but manage conversations. Everything is about managing conversations.

Managing conversations is the interaction between listening and speaking, and that is a skill that is critical to anyone who wants to be successful in business, particularly a business dealing with people, whether it be customers, employees, Board of Directors, suppliers, anyone. If you have people involved, you’re managing conversations.

And the more skilled you are at managing conversations, the more you’ll get accomplished. I’d say the third skill is a healthy amount of self doubt. That sounds contrary Cornell Business Review

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we’re going to layoff employees because we have no revenue. Well, you have 10 good years. You made a lot of money in those 10 years. Why not reinvest in the company?

Why not take a loss? Why not inject some cash and keep people employed; give them something else to do that you didn’t have the time to do when the business was busy.

There’s a lot of jobs that can be created within the same business in order to keep people employed. Right now, the first thing holders of capital will do is layoff employees. This crisis will be just a bleep on the radar. If you have a bad January, you’re not going to lay off people because you know you’re going to need them in February. I joined Leading in September 2008. Two weeks later, Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy and the world changed. But I stood in front of the town hall meeting and said to all the employees, “There will be no layoffs in this crisis.” When I made that promise, I didn’t know how I was going to keep it. But I figured I’ll figure it out.

Because the business of Leading Hotels is about product knowledge of our hotels in relationship with our hoteliers and the intermediaries. I can easily justify laying off 30-40% of the staff. But then six months, eight months later, when the economic expansion returns, I have to rehire people, but they won’t have the product knowledge nor relationships they have today. So I knew it was a crisis. And I need to get through it, but laying off staff was not my first option because that is a critical success factor to the company. Now, that’s not to second guess what’s happening in this crisis. But I just hate the fact that labor is always on the receiving end of preserving

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to what you hear a lot. You have to have confidence, but it’s wonderful to question yourself. We’ll never have all the information that we need to make decisions, but you’re going to make them anyway. But really question yourself. It’s fine to say, “I was wrong” or “I don’t know.” Discovery starts with three little words: I don’t know. If you don’t know, then you’ll learn. If you already know, there’s nothing to learn.

Do you believe that hotels at this time have a social responsibility to aid in the fight against COVID-19 (i.e. housing doctors and nurses)?

I don’t think businesses have social responsibilities. Certainly not obligations. I think it’s an opportunity because at the end of the day, investors don’t invest for us to be charitable. If you look at Four Seasons Hotel in New York, they were the first one to open the hotel up for healthcare workers free of charge, and Governor Cuomo even tweeted about it. That’s an opportunity to build the Four Seasons brand as a brand that cares about people. Dorchester Collection didn’t have the obligation or responsibility to retain all their staff and pay them in full. But they did. That’s an opportunity because now people know that when this is over, Dorchester Collection is going to have very grateful staff, and grateful staff deliver better service, so they don’t need to retrain new people. So there is a business reason, but it’s a choice. It’s a choice that a company made that they believe is good for their business in the long term, not just in terms of how they manage costs in the short term. Even if it doesn’t return any profit at all in the future, this is what they choose to do because they believe it’s the right Cornell Business Review

thing to do, and this decision is up to each business.

How do you think firms within the hospitality industry have been impacted by COVID-19 and how should they shift their organizational strategy?

Well, I think in the short term the impact is severe. In past recessions, we would drop maybe 10-20% in volume and 10% in rate. This is chopping at 90% and it’s very, very severe. My own belief is that the recovery is going to take longer than what the market is anticipating. But I think when the recovery starts, it will be much quicker. Every recession, every crisis is different. Every time we face a crisis, we have to stop what we do. Stopping what we do is a short term solution, never a long term solution. In the long term, we keep doing what we do, but we change how we do it. In the 70’s, there was an oil shortage, and of course people stopped driving in the short term. But in the long term, they didn’t stop driving. And it wasn’t just about pumping more oil, but the solution was in higher fuel efficient cars. So my sense is also here, we won’t stop what we do, we’ll do them differently. The challenge sometimes is that people look at current solutions and try to extrapolate them into the future. Six feet apart is a current solution for stopping the spread of the virus, but six feet apart is not a viable solution for restaurants-the real estate and space is just wrong. So rather than looking at applying the current solution, we have to look and say, “What is this solution trying to accomplish?”

Well, it’s not trying to keep people apart, it’s trying to keep from spreading the virus. Well, I predict restaurants will have more parti-

I think in the long run, things are changing everyday anyway. The crisis just causes us to react much faster to change.

tions between tables and it’ll be built into the design. Maybe the waiter won’t come and take your order. Maybe it’s done by a video and maybe the food gets delivered by robot carts. I don’t know what the solution is, but I think applying the short term solution to the long term won’t work. I think we have to be creative and come up with solutions that accomplish what the short term solution is trying to accomplish. I think in the long run, a vaccine and cure for this virus is the answer. Social distancing is a short term solution.

I think in the long run, things are changing everyday anyway. The crisis just causes us to react much faster to change.

Which experience has influenced your career and your eventual becoming the CEO of Leading Hotels the most?

I think it’s multiple experiences that got me to where I’m at. I started out in the business in financial management because I wanted to see the entire business from a financial standpoint. And then eventually I got into operations and development, and eventually got into the executive

that excited me was working with European businesses; most of my career was in North America and in Asia Pacific, so the change was interesting to me. And so there are things that I knew I could bring to the table and I also knew that there would be things that I will learn, so that’s what attracted me to that particular opportunity.

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branch, the C suites. I think if you compare that to a symphony, some people like to play one instrument really, really well. And I enjoy being the conductor and bringing the symphony together. I like to see many things operating together and then seeing them work. So that’s that’s something for me. Maybe that’s the engineering part of me still there. I really enjoy running a business and turning different knobs and levers and making them work. The other part of it I think is I got to see the business on a global basis. A lot of people like to stay in one place and be a specialist. And I learned so much going global and learning about different parts of the world, what we have in common with each other, and how we are different. And I think that part particularly built my experience when I joined Leading 10-11 years ago. I knew I brought certain skills to the company, whether that be knowledge of the hospitality industry, knowing how big brands work because my entire career was in chain brands, and just the business skills of fixing and building businesses. But there were also parts of the company that I knew I would be learning from. And that’s what excited me. One was working in the luxury segment. In the past, I occasionally had luxury properties, but the brands were not of luxury. Another part

What advice would you give a Cornellian in the Hotel School or any other college student interested in entering the hospitality industry?

I think we all learn differently. It’s very personal, very individual. The same person in a different company at different times is going to react differently. What worked in one company may not work in another company, what worked in one situation in the same company won’t work in another.

What worked years ago won’t work today. Learn from many mentors and make sure those mentors are all very different. I was fortunate to have mentors that came along in my career at different times when I needed to learn different things. You have to be present to know how people can help you, you know, you’re not going to get an invitation saying, “I’ll mentor you.” There’s nothing wrong with asking. Start by just asking for advice.

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Exclusive Interview With...

MICHELLE TANG Michelle Tang is a junior in the Hotel School minoring in Information Science.

On campus she is involved with Camp Kesem, Hotel Ezra Cornell, Phi Chi Theta, and Cornell Business Review. She loves making sweets in her free time and sharing her creations with friends. She previously competed in state level baking competitions and later started a small business selling desserts to people in the area.

Julia: What first piqued your interest in improvement. At that first one, everything baking and how long have you been bak- that could have gone wrong, went wrong. ing for?

Everything was so bad, like my muffins were sunk in the middle. And my pie crust Michelle: Well, I think the first time I wouldn’t leave the tin, and then my piping baked anything was with my mom. It was bag burst on top of my cake. After that cornbread muffins, and I was seven. And went poorly, the year after I practiced a lot all I did was put it in the oven. So I don’t more, and then in my next competition I know if that counts. That’s where it started, placed in the States Level Competition. It though. And then I think I found it fun be- was a really rewarding experience. cause I liked watching all these ingredients become finished products. So, then I got As I got better, some of my friends started really into cake mixes and I was like, “Oh ordering desserts from me for their birthmy god, I’m such a pro because my cakes days and then I made graduation cakes turned out well” but it was obviously be- when I was a senior in high school. So cause of the boxed cake mix. When I got to that’s how it kind of started in terms of high school I joined the culinary arts pro- selling to people. But I always loved baking gram. My high school had an elective for because it’s very detail oriented in comparCulinary Arts and I enrolled and focused ison to cooking, which is very spontaneous on pastries because it was something that where you get to throw in spices and adjust I was always interested in. I got to partici- things the way you want to. I think baking pate in competitions, which was definitely is very scientific in the way that how much a lot of hard work. After my first competi- of a leavening agent you use can completetion, I realized that I had a lot of room for ly determine how your cake rises, or like

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Julia: I know, your decorations on all of your desserts are crazy. I can’t believe you like handmade them.

Michelle: I watched YouTube videos and tutorials. That’s how I learned!

Isha: How are you letting people like in your area know about what you’re doing?

Michelle: So it started just by word of mouth. I first thought of this idea because my friend came to me for a dessert for one of her events when I had come home. They offered to pay and I knew I didn’t need the money, since there’s many more people that could use it more than me, especially during this time. I am really fortunate now to be home with my family and be able to spend time on my hobbies and focus on school. So that’s why I decided to donate the money first, and then that kind of spread through word of mouth and then afterwards when I started getting some traction, I posted on Facebook and I got a good response which was amazing. I’m really honored. I had really good friends share it and supported me, like Isha, and you comment-

ed on my post Julia, which was incredibly nice. Honestly, all the responses I got from people were really touching and made me super happy. I got a good amount of orders from my own posts and then through shares, I got some other contacts and distant connections expressed interest so that was an unexpected but great turnout. Over the summer, I’m planning to post in local buy, sell, trade groups on Facebook when I have more time to make the orders. The neighborhood I live in is a big subdivision.

So, there is also a neighborhood Facebook group that’s really active. So, I’m planning to post there in the summer when things wind down as well.

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how much sugar you use determines the crunch or chewiness of a cookie. I think it’s very interesting. One of my favorite parts though, is getting to decorate. That’s probably why I kept with it for so long – I love the detail and the creativity.

Julia: Do you create your recipes from scratch? And if not, or I guess even if you do, where do you get your inspiration from?

Michelle: Yeah, I think for the most part I find and collect a bunch of recipes and combine them to make my own. I use trial and error, so when someone orders something that I’m not super familiar with, I start with recipe research and I watch a bunch of videos that pertain to that type of recipe and then compare the recipes and see what’s different between the ones I find. And then if I can, I test out multiple ones - I usually make it the first time and then see what I like about it and then adjust it or find another recipe just because with a lot of recipes you can’t really tell what the turnout is going to be or what type of crumb the cake is or how dense or light it is until you actually make it. This is kind of expensive because there was a time when I made a cake three times because I wasn’t happy the first two times, but after that I made notes on my phone and computer. This is helpful so that the next time I do it, I don’t have to make multiples.

Julia: Okay, so pull from others. Like videos or recipes that you find and make your own version of it.

Michelle: Yes!

Isha: So do you plan on expanding past your neighborhood? And, if you could expand further than driving distance, do you think you would do that? And if so, how would you kind of go about?

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Michelle: I think it would depend on the state of the world. But, if I were able to go beyond my area, I would consider expanding to neighboring cities nearby. But I think at a certain point, it is too far to drive to people, and it’s too far for other people to come to my house and pick it up. So, I would consider shipping things that have a longer shelf life. For example, macarons are a pretty good item to ship, because they actually taste better if you let them sit longer since the filling softens the shell, and there’s not really any perishable dairy items or anything in them.

Julia: Do you see yourself creating a menu list for people to choose from in the near future?

Michelle: Yes, I honestly feel like I should have done that before because I’ve kind of just been going off of personal requests from people to tell me what they want and then learn how to make them, or use past experience. But I feel like once I get a good grasp on what people really enjoy, I’ll work on making a menu - because right now I don’t really know what’s really popular with people. I think after I get a good gauge on what most people would enjoy ordering, then I would probably create a menu list.

Isha: Awesome! And how do you decide how much you’re going to charge people? Is it based off what they’re ordering or how much they’re ordering?

Michelle: I put all my recipes on an Excel book. And then every recipe is its own sheet in that book. Then I have specific columns for the units and the measurements for the recipes. I then do the costing based on that. So, I just researched the prices, for example, if a block of cream cheese is $2; and I only need half a block then I’ll put how much it costs per unit, and how much I’m planning to use and then multiply to get my costs. And then I sum evCornell Business Review

ery ingredient up to get my product costs. And then I usually charge based on that; honestly, I should probably charge off a percentage, for example, charge 150% of my costs. But, this is the worst part. I don’t like charging people a lot, especially if they’re my friends. So, I usually charge what I think is fair.

So right now, it’s $1 per cinnamon roll or like $1 a cookie or I like to think about it in slices so like each slice of cake should be X amount, but I try to keep it pretty fair. There is definitely a method to this too: I Google how much these things usually retail for and then I do a percentage less than how much it costs to buy in a store. Because I’m not personally profiting and it’s not my livelihood I feel better about charging lower prices.

Julia: What’s been the most popular dessert that people have ordered so far?

Michelle: I would say macarons are the most popular. But I’m also getting a good number of requests for cheesecake because I think it’s what I’m associated with because

usually when I go to parties, that’s my signature dessert to bring!

Isha: What is the response that you’ve been getting? Obviously, you’re getting a lot of orders, but, on top of that, have you been getting a relatively positive response?

Michelle: Yeah, I’ve been getting really positive responses from everyone. I’m really grateful, because I’ve been hearing from people I haven’t talked to in a really long time, or like, my high school culinary teacher commented on my post and she shared it, which was really nice. But , on top of that, I was really touched by all the support from people that I don’t even really know, and there’s even been people who have reached out to me who just wanted to donate even if they’re not in the area. And then they have sent me the money and have asked me to donate the baked goods to a shelter instead, which is nice. It’s really sweet.

Julia: I guess you kind of touched on this, but how did you decide to use baking as your means to help Coronavirus relief ?

nents - everything was frosted, and on top of that there was a fondant banner that had the school that she was going to. The banner didn’t want to work with me because I’m not that experienced in fondant personally. But that came to bite me because fondant really doesn’t like me either, I guess.

So the fondant started sweating. And then when it starts sweating it becomes so hard to work with. I had to do the banner three times. I think the fact that it had more components than usual that I was unfamiliar with made me more uncomfortable with it, so I struggled with it more. I would say to date that is the cake I am most insecure about. I think about that every once in a while, and I’m like should I have taken the money?

Julia: Do you feel like you’d be more comfortable now making a similar kind of cake?

Michelle: Definitely, just because I know what to expect now. I think I found some comfort in the fact that that same friend came back to me a year later for another birthday cake, so I must have not messed up that badly.

I think no matter how long I do it, I feel like everyone has this feeling to some extent where, no matter how long you do something you might always have this type of adrenaline rush. For example, no matter how many times you compete, you still feel kind of nervous before something, right?

It’s the same way with me in terms of when I sell people my desserts, especially because money is involved and I feel more pressure in that sense. It gets better over time, but that feeling never fully goes away. But I’ve gotten more confident and also just by doing it more, I’ve been able to fail more and learn more.

Julia: That’s really good! I actually have one more question: Are your career goals to go into baking or is that more of a hobby?

Michelle: Honestly, I have no idea. When I started college, I thought I wanted to do Food and Beverage operations. I worked a summer in F&B operations and I enjoyed it so much, but I also decided to expand my horizons after that to see what else I may enjoy. Currently, I’m really interested in the marketing and data analytics fields!

Although, my friends have predicted that I’m going to have a midlife crisis, go to culinary school, and open a bakery when I’m 36 so I guess we’ll see where that goes.

Isha: I feel like you would be very successful with that!

Michelle: I hope so!

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Michelle: I kind of had a sense that people trusted me enough to make a dessert, like in high school because people would come to me for orders. Because honestly, I think everyone’s their own worst critic. So, I think personally, if you asked me, I would have been like, I don’t think my desserts are good enough to be sold. But I think after doing it a good amount of times, and getting good responses and also taking note of what goes wrong, I’ve gotten more confident in it. Baking is one of those skills where it’s pretty easy for you to share with other people I would say. Because it’s not like playing an instrument, where it’s a lot harder to sell a performance than it is to sell 12 cookies. I think it’s one of those skills that has a very tangible end-product. So, people are more willing to spend money on it, and it’s been really beneficial in terms of fundraising!

Isha: For sure. And has it been hard balancing online classes and baking?

Michelle: It has been more of a time commitment because it’s an additional thing, I guess I would say it’s like another extracurricular. But I think because it’s something that I’m really passionate about, I don’t mind spending more time on it. But actually an unforeseen benefit by being so busy is that I force myself to finish all my projects days in advance. It’s been good to motivate myself because there’s timelines on the desserts that you make because you can’t make them too early and you can’t make them too late. People need to pick them up.

So, by knowing that I have to set out these blocks of time to do these desserts, it’s actually helped me a lot in motivating myself because now it’s like, if I procrastinate before it was all on me. But now if I procrastinate, it’s other people’s desserts that might be affected. So, I’ve been better about it actually, which is good.

Isha: Last question that we have is, What’s the hardest dessert you’ve ever had to make?

Michelle: I think the hardest dessert that I struggled with the most was my friend’s graduation cake, just because it was a two-tiered cake. And when your cakes are really heavy, you have to dowel them. So, you have to put supports on the bottom tier, which is tedious. Honestly, I hate doing it because you also have to consider where the dowels should be placed so they don’t affect the cutting of the cake. But on top of that, it was entirely a buttercream cake and it was a really hot day. I drove 30 minutes to deliver it to her in 95-degree weather. I kept telling myself, “my cake is going to melt.”

I struggled because there were so many compo-

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FEATURE

Student Efforts during COVID-19 Pandemic

School of Hotel Administration Freshman

Alexa Chong What are you doing to support COVID-19 relief efforts?

Making and distributing hot meals to the food insecure and workers on the frontline. Additionally selling prepared meals and donating proceeds to COVID-19 relief organizations.

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FEATURE

How can people help and support you?

Stay in the lookout for more cooking events where you can sponsor the distribution of food to those in need!

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School of Hotel Administration Junior

Bradley Chen What are you doing to support COVID-19 relief efforts?

I am selling 4 in x 6 in prints of my 35mm film photography from my series, our gold plated garden, that documents our capacity to love visualized by the emptiness of our planet’s current state. All proceeds go to the Ali Forney Center in NYC to support homeless LGBTQ+ youth.

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How can people help and support you?

Donation Link and where you can buy pictures:

https://givebutter.com/ourgoldplatedgarden

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School of Hotel Administration Senior

Samay Bansal What are you doing to support COVID-19 relief efforts?

To support COVID-19 relief efforts, the Million Meals Mission is working to raise as many funds as possible to provide meals to daily wagers in India who live on what they earn each day. The COVID-19 pandemic has been so challenging for millions and we are trying to do our part to provide them some meal-packs.

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How can people help and support you?

Helping us raise awareness of the work we’re doing / sharing our fundraiser information or our social media content would be incredible.

Thank you very much!

Website: millionmealsmission.org Instagram: @millionmealsmission Venmo: @millionmeals

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Cornell Business Review Reader, The CBR executive board would like to reach out with a statement that shows that we stand in solidarity with the Black community. We want to ensure that there is no uncertainty in our values nor the way our members act and think.

Over the past couple of days, we have witnessed and felt the anger, pain, and sorrow by the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and David McAtee. These blatant murders only represent the most recent and those horrors that are made public.

We want to make it clear that our organization stands against any form of racism, hatred, and injustice.

We have aimed to build an organization in which every member feels safe and respected, where there is a sense of belonging, diversity, and inclusivity. Our organization has made mistakes. Mistakes that we take responsibility for. We realize that our organization has not actively tried or done enough to ensure that the environment we work in is one that we claim we want to be. Our organization has not done enough to ensure that the content we create is representative or diverse enough of those in our community. We want to change this. We want to educate ourselves and commit ourselves to lasting and consistent efforts.

Beyond stating that we want to improve, what matters now is that we see actual change to the efforts that we commit ourselves to. We will hold our organization accountable to these commitments.

We want to move forward as a community and thus we rely on our community for feedback on any ways we can improve our organization. We are here to listen and as we navigate this path, please reach out to us with any ideas, thoughts, or questions on how we can change and support you and each other. We look to the future and will strive to create a sense of belonging in our organization and our publication without stopping once all this has passed.

Thank you, The Cornell Business Review Executive Board

Cornell Business Review